Sunday, April 25, 2010

If you are a frequenter of my blog and watch my youtube videos, you'll know that I'm a huge fan of Urban Decay's 24/7 Glide-On Eye Pencils. They are smooth, glide on lids without tugging, have wonderful color payoff, and are waterproof once set so they are perfect for using on the waterline. I seem to have gathered quite the collection, most of which I've gotten through sales here and there. At $17.00 apiece they are rather pricey but the quality of these liners is much better compared to most drugstore (and even non-drugstore) pencils. Recently, a couple drugstore brands have come up with improved offerings, but I'll talk about that in a moment.

What stands out the most about Urban Decay's pencils is the color selection. They currently have 23 permanent shades which you can find at Sephora, Ulta, or online at urbandecay.com and they are just dreamy. There are super bright blues, iridescent purples, and of course more wearable colors like brown, black, copper, plum, and olive. Just look at the prettiness!

But don't be fooled by just good looks, these pencils mean serious business! If you let the pencil set for a minute after applying, it will not budge. I'm talking, if you rub your finger on these once it's set it won't rub off (which I did with these swatches, and they did. not. move.) I also scrubbed these with soap and water and it still wouldn't come off completely. To get these off easily, I needed an oil-based eye makeup remover. Holy grail stuff for those with oily lids, or for anyone with monolids or sok ssangkapul if you hate panda eyes!

So here are my swatches. I also included a few other liners I've gotten recently that are actually very similar in terms of quality and texture. The L'Oreal HIP Chrome liners have really been impressing me since they feel pretty much identical to my UD 24/7s and seem to wear as well. There is also one Styli-Style pencil that is also really nice although I haven't used it much (probably because I'm so enamored by my other 23/7s!) By the way, is it really obvious I like putting things in color-order? lol.

Click the image to see it larger. In natural light.

With flash.

My all-time favorites are Lucky (bright copper), Ransom (purple with blue iridescence), Zero (matte black), and Yeyo (shimmery white). They are actually the only ones I have full-sized versions of since I use them so often. I do think I need a full-sized Binge but I'll wait until my mini is gone first.

Can you see how my sweet tooth is makeup and 24/7's are my candy? Definitely eye candy for sure. Love, love, love. I really felt like a crazy rainbow zebra with all these multi-colored stripes on my arm. XD

I did notice as I was labeling them that I was missing the swatch of 1999, so here is a previous swatch that includes it. Honestly, this color is one of my least favorites anyway since it's not as opaque and nice as the others. :P

I do want to mention, for the record, that not all pencils are created equal. MOST pencil liners both high and low end are either too hard, don't draw an opaque line, or smudge everywhere like crazy! I avoid "kohl" pencils with all my might since they always migrate like crazy within 10 minutes on me. I understand they are meant to be smokey but you can smudge out these pencils just as easily right after it's applied, then the smokiness will last all day.

Basically I back UD 24/7 and L'Oreal HIP Chrome pencils. (Styli-style is just this one, since I've tried others and I didn't think they were as soft or opaque.) In fact, I wish the HIP line had more colors since they are so comparable and are almost half the price of Urban Decay's pencils and go on sale often. I only saw black, gold, silver, and purple in stores. I bought my blue one on ebay and saw others in green on ebay as well. I might pick up the black and gold during a future BOGO sale just to see if the quality lives up to the rest but so far they've been excellent.

I've heard that Make Up For Ever's Aqua Eyes (tons of beautiful colors!) and Smashbox Limitless Eye Liners are just as good as well, but I don't personally own any. If you do love those brands though you shouldn't be afraid to try them out. Just avoid Covergirl and Maybelline pencils unless you like the raccoon look. ;)

Hope these swatches were helpful if you are in the market for some new or better pencil liners! They aren't as failproof with smudging as MAC fluidline but for the ease of use and being head and shoulders above other pencils on the market, I 100% recommend them especially for the lower lash line + waterline. Let me know in the comments what your favorite pencil eyeliner is.

PS- I noticed a lot of you in the comments said the liner smudged for you and I will say that I nearly always use a primer on my lids, every single time I wear makeup. I can't speak for how long any liner lasts with no primer but these last well with primer. I make sure to have it especially on the lower lash line and those pesky outer corners. ;)

Great review. I order the 24/7 set from Sephora during their Friends and Family. I just started using it yesterday. I love how it last it all day long. i didn't have to reapply during the evening which is pretty awesome. I am planning to get more colors from seeing your swatches. Thanks!!

Heh! I know what you mean about them not budging. When I try to remove my 24/7 liner with a basic foaming makeup remover, my eyes look like ghoul/racoon eyes, whereas the rest of my face is clean. I've never come across an eyeliner like these ones and I own two colours, ransom and zero. I use zero on a daily basis and ransom as a pop of colour on my bottom lash line if I'm feeling brave.

i like this... I don't own any UD eye pencil. Most eye pencils are all from Asian brand such as Majorlica, Missha and Koji and Dejavu. The eye pencils colors from UD are wonderful. MUFE have similar i think 24? colors.... if the price is more friendly, i would definitely buy them ;)

Nice review Jen!I own one 24/7 liner in underground, and I love it! It is definitely worth the price! Hopefully one day I'll own as many as you lol :). Makeup Forever Aqua Eyes Pencils are pretty great, too, but 24/7 is a lot more creamy and smudgeable. I'll most certainly keep an eye out for those HIP pencils!Thanks! <3

I'll have to check out those HIP liners; I never really noticed them before. Unfortunately UD 24/7s, MUFE Aqua Eyes, and the Smashbox pencils are all nogo for me, because they are petroleum-based and I'm allergic, but the HIP pencils don't seem to be.

i've heard raves on MUFE aqua liner in OL (black) so i purchased one a couple of months ago but honestly that stuff smudges on my mono lidded eyes like crazyyyyy. oh yes its totally waterproof too bad it doesn't stay on the lids hahaha but stubbornly presents itself in the form of major panda eyes.

i have UD bourbon and i'm pretty partial to it but now i will investigate further with HIP and UD. thanks a bunch :)~~~

i tried the 24/7 pencils for the first time a couple of weeks ago through the friends and family sale and i was so excited since i read they are so many people's hg eyeliner but they just didn't work for me. i bought a mini set and i tried like three of the colors and they all faded within the day but zero was the worst offender. i put it on right before i left around 8am and i checked it until lunchtime and it was fine so i thought it really would last all day but when i came home around 4pm, i went to the bathroom and i had a serious case of panda eyes. anyway, i do love how creamy they are and the color payoff but they only work for me for a couple of hours which sucks since i can already get that from a drugstore liner. i guess i'm still on the hunt for my hg eyeliner. i really wanted these to work. oh well. :(

Thanx for the swatches and detailed review. The metallic shades are lovely. I think I might just go get yeyo soon.

I haven't lined my eyes wih metallic liner before. I'm using Koji twist type to line my waterline daily. It's the best non-panda eyes liner I've used so far but it still smudges a little at the corners too.

I had great expectations for these liners, but I'm sad to say that they were disappointing. The liner was gone after 6 hours. The white one also fades. I now use the Make Up Forever Aqua Eyes liners, and they are better. I still get a little smudging after 6 hours sometimes, but it's significantly less than what the UD 24/7 liners caused. Maybe I just have oily eyes. Anyway, the MUFE Aqua Eyes come in so many more colours. You should try the creamy champagne colour! It's great for lining the inner corners and it's not as harsh as white.

i used shu uemura drawing pencil in black. it's not as smooth as other pencils but the staying power is great! i don't use primer and it stays on for 12+ hours. after that it does smudge a little around the corners. one pencil lasts me a year and i wear it almost everyday.

I love the pigment of the UD pencils. I wish I had taken part in the 30% sale! :( But they are kind of pricey on its own. I've seen them @ Sephora and it seems kind of crazy to buy it @ full retail price. I hope I can stumble across some sets or even minis like the ones you have :) My eyelids seem to be fat so it's hard to get good color output from them! :p

I'm becoming another Urban Decay fan *blinks blinks* as I've just got that legendary eyeshadow primer from paris sephora. But as I've seen your review, I think that I gotta buy more xD the colors are so pretty!

Yeah for some reason NOTHING stays on my eyes. I have pretty much monolids, but they're a teensy tiny bit double-lidded. Not even enough to count, but they have this annoying hood of skin that causes eyeliner to crease, even UD's eyeliner pencil. The ONLY thing that makes it stay is if I layer eyeshadow over the eyeliner. Otherwise...nope. :\

hey jen, i've found that Revlon Colourstay stays on reeeeally well.i'm a monolidder so i have tried my fair share of eyeliners.it's also really black which is good.i know wt u mean abt the maybelline eyeliners, have u tried the lime green one? i gave mine away it was too horrible! anyway thanks for the review, im on the prowl for some urbandecay in nz! not sure if there is any tho. :)

have you tried mac's pearlglide eyeliner? i bought it recently and i love it so much! it didn't make my sok ssangapool look weird (and that's saying a lot since i only have it on one eye) i think it was $15.